Across the 34 OECD countries the tax burden increased by an average 0.4 percentage points last year. But while Italy bucked the overall trend, the country’s tax to GDP ratio is still well above the 34.1 percent average.

While Italians face higher than average taxes on their personal incomes and social security contributions, revenues from corporate income and goods and services are lower than in other countries.

Looking back to 2012, Italy’s tax burden was the fifth highest in the OECD, behind Denmark, France, Belgium and Finland. At the time, Italy’s 42.7 percent tax burden topped all other OECD countries including Sweden and Norway (both 42.3 percent).

Last year Sweden's figure increased to 42.8 percent, while Norway's decreased to 40.8 percent.

The Italian government had set aside €4.5 billion in its 2015 budget to reduce the country’s tax burden, although plans were scrapped after criticism from the European Commission. The EU has given Italy until March to draw up new plans to reduce its budget deficit, or risk facing penalties.